Blog #2 - Another Idea

The article that we read for Part I of our quiz this week was extremely interesting. If I understand the main point of the article, it seemed that Ball and Forzani were not necessarily disappointed in the research performed by professors and graduate students within schools and departments of education, but intended to encourage these researchers to take a different path in their research. While looking at the sociology and psychology within education is very important (thus, the two courses we’re taking this summer) looking at the instructional dynamic is key for the two authors and what makes “education” actually education. I don’t necessarily feel the need to appease Ball and Forzani but I have thought about their critiques and have tried to think about how I could study something in the Foreign Language (Spanish) classroom that could possibly align with their definition of educational research. In doing this, my older topic of looking at culture and seeing how a teacher can integrate grammar and oral proficiency into a culture lesson isn’t necessarily going out the window. The teacher would, in fact, be interacting with the content and would then have to figure out creative ways to convey culture to his/her students so that they are learning things from across the FL curriculum.

Limiting myself to only the instructional dynamic, another topic comes to mind. Even though FL is now considered a core subject, it does not get equal treatment in the schools. College prep students only have to take two courses. Students on other tracks may not have to take a foreign language at all. With this systemic attitude toward foreign languages, it seems that a lot of students come into the Spanish, French, Latin, or German class without much enthusiasm and with a poor attitude towards what they are about to learn in the course. One could argue that some students walk into any and every classroom with this attitude. But my experience in high school showed me that most students thought FL classes were a joke, that they were not necessary, and just a filler. As an advocate for the learning of foreign languages, I know that these perceptions are not true. How do teachers deal with the perceptions of their students? What kind of student-teacher interaction is necessary to make the Spanish classroom a legitimate learning environment? Are teachers effective in “convincing” their students that learning Spanish/Portuguese/Arabic is a good a necessary thing? These questions are broad. I’m just trying to flesh out some ideas on how to research the interactions that Ball and Forzani see to be all too important.

Quantitatively, a survey would be the best research method. A large sample of Spanish teachers would be desirable. But to delve down into more detailed descriptions of teacher-student interaction, I think interviews and observations (both qualitative) would be a necessary next step.

Could I really research this?